After smashing their way into the public consciousness with the highly successful albums Brothers and El Camino a few years ago, The Black Keys are back with another hit album, Turn Blue, which is released today
Even though it's three years since their last album, 2011's El Camino, the first single from Turn Blue, 'Fever', shows the band are sticking to their winning formula of catchy, upbeat and witty music, fans of the last two albums won't be disappointed
While a return to their grittier blues style from early albums such as The Big Come Up and Rubber Factory would have been welcome (and is still evident in parts) it's a positive development that the duo, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney haven't wilted under the weight of expectation following their chart topping exploits in 2010/11. Then again, they've never been one's to take themselves too seriously
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Speaking of that earlier blues rock sound that they became synonymous with, it's worth having a look back at some previous songs, and also a great video, for the track, '10 A.M. Automatic', from 2004's Rubber Factory, watch out for those wild grannies
The Black Keys set off on their American Tour to promote Turn Blue in September, before that they will be hitting various festivals in Europe over the summer, and once again, it is hoped they make an appearance in Ireland. Their live shows certainly pack a punch, I can vouch for this having seen them at the old Tripod venue in Dublin (below) back in 2009, they know how to make a serious amount of noise
The second single from the album is the title track, 'Turn Blue', a lovely lo-fi bluesy ballad, here's the band performing the song recently at the BBC, chilled man
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Shall we get to know Dan and Patrick a little bit better? Here's an interview they did in Rome two weeks ago, ignore the Italian subtitles and enjoy their....insights and 'unique' humour
A final wrap up of tunes from Turn Blue before I leave you for another week, stand out tracks aside from the two singles are 'In Our Prime', which features some luscious guitar playing from Auerbach and drifts into a Funkadelic vibe towards the end, then there's 'It's Up To You Now' which really captures their early sound and dives into psychedelic guitar playing before coming back around again, expect more of these
Turn Blue could well end up being a divisive album from The Black Keys, having had a quick sweep through the Interweb, some are whinging that they played it too safe, and angrier elements of the mob have even labelled it a sell-out, more recent fans seem to be delighted that they haven't shifted to far away from their last two albums. Personally, I'm in the middle, yes, I would have liked to have heard a bit more dirty blues rock-outs on Turn Blue, but at the same time I'm happy that they've put out another decent album which has some great tracks on it, so, it's a hearty 3/5 stars for me
